4 Held in Raid on Alleged Methamphetamine Lab

Four people suspected of running a laboratory capable of producing more than $2 million worth of methamphetamine were arrested Thursday evening during a drug raid at a house, police said.

Orange police, assisted by the Inland Empire Clandestine Lab Task Force, obtained a search warrant and used a battering ram to enter a house in the 500 block of South Hilda Street about 6:30 p.m., said Orange Police Sgt. Robert Gustafson.

Based on a tip from an informant, investigators recovered enough chemicals at the scene to produce methamphetamines with a street value of about $2.4 million, Gustafson said. He added that the lab had the capacity to manufacture eight pounds of the drug daily, at a street value of $8,000 to $10,000 per pound.

“We had information that there was a methamphetamine lab at that location,” Gustafson said. “The four suspects were in the room where the lab was located.”

Arrested for manufacturing methamphetamines were Ricky Lee Traywick, 32, who lives at the house; Michael Edward Crownover, 32, address unknown; Randall Esau Baca, 29, of Garden Grove; and Vera Normand Henry, 33, also of Garden Grove.

All four were booked into Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail each. Traywick resisted arrest and was subdued by officers, Gustafson said.

Recovered from the rundown, stucco tract home in a middle-class neighborhood were explosives, including blasting caps and a dummy mortar round, a sawed-off, 16-gauge shotgun and four handguns.

Glass beakers, flasks and test tubes used to produce the crystallized form of amphetamines were strewn across the front lawn as police searched the house. Investigators crawled on their hands and knees, dusting the equipment for fingerprints.

One task force officer, who asked not to be identified, said that disposing of the hazardous chemicals used to make the drug would cost taxpayers about $8,000 for the estimated seven-hour cleanup.

“We’ve got a small toxic dump here,” the officer said.

The house will be sealed off and toxic chemicals will be destroyed by a private firm, Gustafson said.

Police recovered a five-gallon water bottle that was full of a substance known as “meth-oil,” the final stage of the drug before it is converted into a crystalline form.

The Inland Empire Clandestine Lab Task Force is composed of officers from the Department of Justice, the DEA, CHP, and San Bernardino and Riverside County Sheriff’s departments.

Times staff photographer Mark Boster contributed to this story.